'In the kitchen, via the garden, I am often torn between theory and praxis, when surely the latter is all that matters here. Yet the largest bench, the one dividing the dining area from the kitchen itself, is never used for culinary preparation. It is this surface which many Australian kitchens, including mine, feel they need, the one piled with books and journals, notepaper and pens, the surface where we are reinventing ourselves, constructing a different, self-conscious culinary tradition. It is at this metaphorical bench that I think about food.' With her trademark elegance and erudition, Gay Bilson embarks on a lively journey through cooking, recipes and home, considering food developments both digestible and not; on chefs domestic and professional; on the substance of everyday life. An unmissable treat from the bestselling author of .